HAMILTON - Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Brady Oliveira has put together a 2023 campaign worth remembering. He’s aiming to finish it Sunday with the third Grey Cup championship of his young career.
A Winnipeg native, Oliveira made history this season, joining New Westminster B.C.’s Jon Cornish as just the second Canadian to surpass 1,500 rushing yards in a CFL single season.
Oliveira’s impact stretched beyond the ground game, catching 38 passes for 428 yards and surpassing 2,000 all-purpose yards. He played a massive part in helping the Blue Bombers lead the regular season in scoring (571 points) on their way to reaching a fourth consecutive Grey Cup game.
While he vows that individual stats don't matter, the 26-year-old admits making history on Week 21 against the Calgary Stampeders was a special night.
"You look at the list of players that have reached it [1,500 rushing yards], and there there's not many. It's just Jon Cornish and I,” Oliveira said Wednesday during Bombers media day. "I grew up watching Jon Cornish as well, so it's like a dream. I feel like there's been lots of dreams for myself this season."
Oliveira's big season has put him in position to bring home some major hardware. He’s paired with Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for the league's top honour, the Most Outstanding Player award. The accolades didn't stop there as the University of North Dakota product also has the chance to be named the Most Outstanding Canadian as well.
"I never thought this amount of success would come so early in my career," he said on the nominations. "That being said, I've definitely worked extremely hard. And looking at how my life played out and my football career growing up, I've sacrificed a lot and I've done a lot to get to where I am today."
While he’s flattered to be in the running for the accolades that will be awarded Thursday night, Oliveira's goal remains locked in on the confetti that will anoint a champion on Sunday.
"I want to win a Grey Cup. These individual stats, these awards, whatever it is – if we don't win it’s a waste," he said. "So, my mindset is going to be laser-focused this week, just as it has been every single week to go 1-0 and win the week. So, this week, I've got to be possessed this week. Just don't be denied and go get this one for the city."
Looking towards the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday, Oliveira knows he and the Blue Bombers will have their work cut out for them come kickoff of the 110th Grey Cup.
"I think they do a lot of good things in the back end," Oliveira said on the Alouettes' defence that held the East Division-leading Argonauts to 17 points in the East Final and intercepted Kelly four times.
"And I think they give teams struggles just because of the turnovers that they're able to create and what they're able to capitalize on those turnovers, which is with points."
Oliveira has known nothing but success since pulling on the Blue and Gold, having reached the Grey Cup four seasons in a row. He spoke Wednesday about what he will remember most from this dynastic run.
"Times like this are when we can create so many special memories that we will remember for a lifetime," he said. "And 20-30 years down the road, when we all get together, we can look back at these moments.
"So sacrifice everything. We've done so much to get here, but now give a little bit more. What else more can you do to make sure that we can have those memories that will last a lifetime?"
Some of Oliveira's early memories with the Bombers feature fellow Winnipeg native Andrew Harris, whom Oliveira split reps with during his 2019 rookie season. Oliveira took the reins of the backfield after Harris started a new chapter with the Argonauts, earning the trust of his offensive line.
"It definitely was in the back of my mind like, ‘Hey, I've got to earn these guys' trust. And I will. It just might take some time.’ And now that I have their trust, I love those guys. They're honestly like big brothers to me."
"We hang out a lot off the field and they're guys that I can go to with anything, and they'll always have my back. And I feel the same thing in the game. When I'm in there, they truly have my back. I feel they go the extra yard to truly get the job done to allow me to have so much success."
The love the players on the Bombers’ offence have for one another is palpable, and they all take pride in what they've accomplished this season.
"I'm so proud of Brady, and just how hard he works," said Bombers offensive lineman Jermarcus Hardrick Wednesday. "Somebody just told me Brady's only 26. Good God! Good for him," Hardrick said, laughing.
"If you're from Winnipeg, you know. Brady's a Winnipegger. He would take his shirt off his back for animals, for people. Brady's one of the best players I've been around."
Having played with Harris for many seasons, dating back to their time with the BC Lions, Hardrick always knew what to expect from the future Hall of Famer. The veteran lineman also knew the moment when the Bombers' run game was in good hands with Oliveira.
"He picked up a pass protection that we hadn't seen on film," Hardrick said. "A team came up with a new defence on us that week and he picked it up. Those were the things Andrew did all the time. But when Andrew was gone, you didn't know how normal that wasn't."
Fellow Bombers offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld had a similar memory.
"Calgary used to run a kind of a rotation where their weak side linebacker would drop deep and they'd bring someone off the edge and they moved the defensive line to stop the run," Neufeld said. "We opened up a lane for him and Brady ended up breaking through a tackle... I could hear that collision from 20 yards away. He got up, did his patented headshake, and I was like, 'He's arrived.'"
The success the trio, along with the rest of the Bombers’ line, have had to be celebrated. So Oliveira treated the group to a celebratory dinner once he broke the 1,500-yard mark.
“He actually took us out to this cool restaurant in Winnipeg called The Merchant Kitchen,” Neufeld recalled. “He ordered damn-near everything on the menu for us and we had a couple of cocktails, and just be able to break bread with our brothers and celebrate a milestone like that is pretty cool.”
